Hi Guys,

Okay so I'm very new to this so please keep that in mind. noob
In early Jan I got myself 3 Ts.

So the question is regarding my Chaco Golden Knee. The little guy/gal (about 3.5cm at this stage) keeps digging to the bottom of the enclosure and doesn't seem to be coming up at all.
In the first few weeks the T was eating great and even shed a mold ( the T ate 2 more times after the mold) but now she/he stays hidden all the time.
I figured that it could be due to cold, it has been raining a lot this side (the T has only been hiding for about the last 2.5 weeks), I got a new (bigger) heating pad under the enclosure, but that does not seem to help at all.

If this is normal I'll be happy to accept it and wait out the winter. But if not please advise?

Also I think (ammature thinking beware) that the potting soil might be a bit deep. The enclosure is about 10cm deep and the potting soil fills it up about 6cm. If that is the case is it fine if I just remove a few cm of the potting soil?

The enclosure also contains a small piece of rounded bark big enough for the T to hide under and a coke bottle lid size water "bowl"

If I missed on mentioning anything that is important please let me know and I'll fill in the blanks.
If there is another thread that already covers this (and I've missed it) please give me the link?

Thanks

Hi Shawn,

welcome to the hobby.

It sounds like you don't need to worry too much about your T.
From what I can gather, he/she should be very content in the enclosure, given that she already had a molt in your care.

Perhaps you can post a picture of her setup as you have it at the moment, if possible?

As you said, the cold weather caused by the rain could impact her and because you have your heat pad under the enclosure, she is most probable heading down to the heat source. But it is entirely normal for smaller T's to burrow and not come out for day/weeks on end.

As for the enclosure size, you've given us the height (10cm), but because you have a terrestrial T, the width (floorspace) is more important than height. What width/length is her enclosure?

Please feel free to ask any other questions you might have. Everybody here is eager to help and give advice.

One last thing, if I may ask, what other T's do you have in your collection?

Hi and welcome.

First off, remove the heating bad from the bottom of the tank and place it on the side of your tanks.
Reason for this, the spider can not move/regulate from the heat as it is coming from the bottom.
Second off, turn your heating pad off, it is not needed at this point in time, only need to have heating on when the temps drop to 12 degrees and lower.

What you spider is doing is normal for them, they will burrow while they are still small slings as this is safer and what they do.
As it gets bigger he will start getting braver and come out and sit above ground more often.

Are you using potting soil or peat?
The depth of your peat is fine.

Hi SixGun16,

Thanks for the quick response.
I'll post a pic of the enclosure as soon as I get home.

It is a 10x10x10 cm glass case.

So I have:
Chaco Golden knee
Curlyhair (+- 2cm) - molted once. about 7 feeds so far. (also in the 10x10x10 case)
Dwarf Black Tiger - (when I got it they said it was 3mm but I haven't seen it in quite some time) also 1 molt and about 5 feeds in a 5x5x5 case.

Thanks Jake,

I'll have a look at the heating pad suggestion.

And yes for the moment I'm using potting soil. I'll move over to peat as soon as they have been in the current enclosures for 6 months. I only heard about the peat being an alternative just after housing them.

Hi Shawn,

Everything should be fine for your little T, except the heating pad as Jake suggested.

Just a suggestion, you may want to start looking at a bigger enclosure for your Grammostola pulchripes (Chaco Golden Knee). After another molt or two he/she will be too big for the enclosure. But no need to haste. Just a thought. Then you can use peat in the new enclosure.